The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1887-01-07

nous Spanish artist, IS dlSguSt6d with the
erucifix that the priest holds before him,
beCsUse it is such a poor specimen OF cult
ure. And So sometimes through taste and
sometimes through learned menace, and
sometimes through physAcs4 distress-aye,
in ten thousand ways-troubie comes to
harass and annoy.
And yet it is unfair to measure mans life
by his misfortunes, because where there IS
one stalk of nigbt-shade there are fifty mari
Colds and harebeils$ where there is one
cloud thunder charged there are hundreds
that stray across the heavens, the glory OF
land and sky asleep in their bosom. Re-
cause death came and took your child away,
did yoti Immediately forget all the five
years, or the ten years, or the fifteen years,
in which she came every night with kiss,
all the tones of your hears pealing forth at
the sound Of her voice or the soft touch OF
her hand4 Because in some fnanciaA Eu-
FoeelVdon your fortune went into the break
sFs: dtd You forget all those years in which
the l1xUrfes and extravagances of life
showered OH your pathways Alasl that IS
an unwise man, an unph7losophic man, and,
most of all an unchristan mari who meas
ures his life on earth by groans aid tsaTs,
and dyspeptic fit and abuse, and scornl aud
neuralgi thrust.
Againy remark that there are many peo-
pie who estimate their life on earth by the
hLIOuIL Ol uOHGJ Alsr5h AfetNC eeN'+ttAA
They say: 1.-The year 1866, or 1876, or 1886
was wasted" Whya Made 10 money.
Now, it is all cant and insincerity to talk
against money as though it had no value.
It is refinement, and education, and ten
thousand blessed surroundings; it Is the
spreading Of the table that feeds your chill
dren's hunger: it is the lighting OF the fur
mace that keeps you warmi it is the max
ing of the bed on which you rest from care
and anxiety; it is the carrying out at last
Of you to decent sepulture, and the put
ting up OF tl2s slab, on which is chiseled the
story of your Christian hope. 1t is simply
hypocrisy this TRADE, IN pulIiE and lecture
hall, against money, as though Il bad no
uses. It is hands, and feet, ana sails, aud
ten thousand grand and glorious enter
prises.
But while all this is so, he who uses
monty, or thinks Of money as any thing but
means to an end, viii find out his mis-
take when the glittering treasures slip out
of his nerveless grasp, and he goes out OF
this world without a shilling of money or
certificate of stock. He might better have
been the Christian porter that opened his
gate, or the begrmed workman who last
night Iieavad coal into his cellar Bonds
and mortgages ard leases have their use,
but they make poor yard=st with which
to measure life. They that boast them
selves of their wealth, and trust on the
multitude of their riches, none of them can
by any means redeem his brother, nor give
to God a ransom for him, that he should
not see corruption. " Wise men die, like
wise the fool and the british person per-
ish. and leave their wealth to others"
But there are maryland 1 wish there
were mors-vvho estimate their life by their
moral and spiritual development 1t is not
sinful egotism for Christian man TO say 4:
ttI am purer than l used to be.' There IS
no sinful egotism in that. 1t is not base
egotism for d soldier. to say: II know moro
about military tactics than used to before
took musket in my hand, and learned to
present arms and when I was pest to
the drilling officer" It is not base egotIsm
for a sailor to say: 81 know better how to
clew down the mizzen top-sail than l used
to before I had ever seen q ship" And
there is no sinful egotism when a Christian
man. fighting the battles of the Lord, or II
you will have it, voyaging towards a
heaven of eternal rest, says; ~ know
more about spiritual tactics and about voy'
aging towards Heaven than l used to-"
Why, there are those in this presence
who have measured lances with many a foe,
and unhorsed it. There are Christian men
here, who have become swartby by ham
mering at the forge of calamity. They
stand on an entirely different plane Of
character from that which they once Occu-
pied. They are measuring their life on
earth by golden-gated Sabbaths, by pente-
costal prayer meetings, by communion
tables by baptismal fonts by hal1elujiahs in
the temple. They have stood on Sinai and
heard it thunder; they have stood on Pis-
gah and looked over into the Promised
Land they have stood on Calvary and
seen the cross bleed. They can, like Paul
the Apostle write on their heaviest trou-
bles 'light,'' and "but for moment" The
darkest night their soul is irradiated, as
was the night over Bethlehem, by the
faces of those who have come to proclaim
glory and good cheer. They are only wait
ing for the gate to open, and the chains to
fall off, and the glory to begin.
remark again: There are maryland n
wish there were more-who are estimating
life by the amount of good they can do.
John Bradford said he counted that day
nothing at all in which he had not, by pen
or tongue, done some good. If d man be-
gin right ] can not tell how many tears he
may wipe away, how many burdens he
may lift, how many orphans he may com
fort, how many outcasts he may reclaim.
There have been men who have given their
whole life in the right direction, concen-
trating all their wit and ingenuity, and
mental acumen, and physical force, and
enthusiasm, for Christ. They climbed the
mountain, and delved into the mine, and
crossed the sea, and trudged the desert,
waiting for the resurrection of the just.
They measured their lives by the chains
they broke off, by the garments they put
upon nakedness, by the miles they Travelled
to alleviate every kind Of suffering. They
felt in the thrill of every nerve,
in the motion Of every muscle, in
every throb of their heart, in every
respiration Of their lungs, the magnificent
truth: :" No man Iveth for himself" They
rE-anf fbqoT OH cold and fhrouoh hnaf foot
blistered, cheek smitten, back scourged,
tempest lashed. to do their whole duty.
That is the way they measured life-by the
amount Of good they could do. Do you
want to know how old Luther was; how
old Richard Baxter was; how old Philip
Doddridge was4 Why, you can not calcu-
late their lives by any human arithmetic
Add to their lives ten thousand times ten
thousand years and you have not expressed
it--What they have lived or will live. o,
what a standard that is to measure "a mans
life byi There are those in this house who
think they have lived only thirty years.
They will have lived a thousand-they
have lived a thousand There are those
who think they are eighty years Of age.
They have not even entered upon their in
fancy, for one must become q babe in
Christ TO begin at all.
Now, do not know what your advan-
tages or disadvantages are-I do not know
what your tact or talent isl do not know
what may be the fascination Of your man
ners or the responsiveness Of them; but /
know this: There is for you, my hearer, a
field TO culture, harvest to reap, a tear 70
wipe away, a soul to save. If you have
worldly means, consecrate them 10 Christ;
II you have elOquence, use it on the side
that Paul and Wilberforce used theirs; If
you have learning, put it all into the poor
box Of the worlds suffering. But if you
have none Of these-neither wealth, nor
elOquence, nor learning-you, at any rate,
have smile with which you can en-
courage the disheartened, a frown with
which you may blast injustice, a voice
with winch you may call the wanderer